Efforts continue to send second aid ship to Gaza, first returns (updated)

Preparations continue for the departure of the second World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid ship to leave from Larnaca port to head for Gaza, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that preparations are continuing so that the ship can sail as soon as possible.

He was referring to a vessel called the Jennifer, which is being loaded with around 500 tonnes of aid – sugar, flour, pasta, canned food and milk – and a crane that will make unloading the aid easier.

The Jennifer is waiting for the green light from Israel to set sail for Gaza.

A WCK spokesperson at Larnaca port, where the group’s warehouse is located, said on social media that a second vessel would accompany the larger vessel carrying the aid.

Specifically, the support vessel will carry a crew that is going to operate the mobile crane.

“We have forklifts, we have pallet jacks. And this crew will be able to unload all these pallets, a process that requires technical maneuvering,” the spokesperson said, adding that the organisation has done it before and is ready to do it again.

Meanwhile, the Open Arms, the first ship that took aid to Gaza via the Amalthea sea corridor on Sunday returned to Larnaca after the aid was delivered from Friday night.

The Amallthea initiative foresees the use of Larnaca port for the transhipment of humanitarian aid, which will arrive from abroad by air to Larnaca airport. Officials from Israel are conducting checks for security reasons. The humanitarian aid will then be loaded onto ships and transported to Gaza.

Supervision and coordination is carried out by the Zenon Coordination Centre in Larnaka.

The Open Arms ship towed the MMS Aris floating platform onto which the humanitarian aid was loaded. It is a metal structure that was able to approach the shores of Gaza.

The ship was carrying food such as canned food, rice, pasta and sugar.